Includes railway-related works! The achievements of Yuji Koseki, a composer from Fukushima City [Fukushima Prefecture]

Are you familiar with the composer Yuji Koseki (1909-1989), who was from Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture ?

The music that Koseki composed throughout his lifespans a wide range of genres, including children's songs, popular songs, school songs, company songs, fight songs, marches, and symphonies, and it is said thathe composed approximately 5,000 pieces in total. Even if you don't know the name Yuji Koseki or that he was from Fukushima City,many people have probably heard his music.

Here's a brief introduction to his life and the many songs he composed

The life of Yuji Koseki

Yuji Koseki was born on August 11, 1909, as the eldest son of a kimono shop owner in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture. "Yuji" was a pen name; his real name was "Yuji" (pronounced the same)

I started composing music on my own when I was 10 years old

After graduating from Fukushima Commercial School in 1928, he took a job at a bank, but at the recommendation of composer Kosaku Yamada (famous for the children's song "Akai Tombo" - Red Dragonfly), he moved to Tokyo in 1930 and became an exclusive composer for the record company Columbia

The following year, in 1931, he made his debut with a record featuring "Fukushima March" on side A and "Fukushima Serenade" on side B. In 1935, his song "Sendou Kawaiya" became a huge hit, and he joined the ranks of popular composers.

After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he composed music for lyrics intended to boost morale, such as "The Camp Song," and also entertained soldiers on the battlefield alongside writers and painters

The wartime songs composed by Koseki had melodies that were meant to encourage soldiers and their families, and at times, also carried a sense of melancholy. While they could be considered part of the "military songs" genre, they were not entirely identical to them. (Although they are sometimes called "wartime songs," this termhave become established after the war. During the war, Columbia Records classified songs that Koseki had helped compose as "military songs.")

However, Koseki was deeply saddened that many of the soldiers sent to the battlefield to listen to his songs were unable to return home

After the war, there was a complete shift, and cheerful songs began to appear

• "Pointed Hat" (1947), the theme song for the NHK radio drama series "The Hill Where the Bells Ring."
• The theme song of the National High School Baseball Tournament, "The Crown of Glory Shines Upon You" (1948)
• The popular song "The Highland Train Goes On" (1954)

These are good examples

Furthermore, the " Olympic March ," which was used as the marching song for the athletes' entrance at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was also composed by Koseki. Koseki Yuji's music reached the ears of people all over the world.

He received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon in 1969 and became the first honorary citizen of Fukushima City in 1979

He retired as a composer in 1986. In 1988, the Yuji Koseki Memorial Museum opened in Fukushima City. The following year, on August 18, 1989, he passed away at the age of 80 at a hospital in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture

After the death of Yuji Koseki

In 2009, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Yuji Koseki's birth, "Eikan wa Kimi ni Kagayaku" (The Crown Shines for You) was adopted as the departure melody for the Shinkansen platform at JR Fukushima Station, and "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" (The Highland Train Goes On) was adopted as the departure melody for the conventional line platform

Furthermore, a monument depicting Koseki playing his beloved Hammond organ has been installed in the plaza in front of the east exit of Fukushima Station. Melodies play every hour during the day

A monument was installed in the west exit station square in 1982, and now this monument also plays the same melody

In the first half of 2020,NHKaired the serial television drama "Yell." The drama featured a character modeled after Koseki, and many songs composed by Koseki Yuji appeared in the series.

Also, since September 2020, Fukushima Kotsu has introduced "Melody Buses" on its buses that circulate in the central urban area of ​​Fukushima City. As the name suggests, these buses play melodies composed by Yuji Koseki

The following article explains the history of Fukushima Kotsu, so please take a look

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How Fukushima Transportation was born & A descendant of the founder of Fukushima Transportation tried out the Iizaka Line

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The Iizaka Line, a railway line operated by Fukushima Transportation Co., Ltd. and running through Fukushima City in Fukushima Prefecture, connects Fukushima Station and Iizaka Onsen Station. How did Fukushima Transportation and the Iizaka Line come about? What is the Fukushima Transportation Iizaka Line? The Iizaka Line is a 9.2km line operated by the private railway company Fukushima Transportation, connecting Fukushima Station in Fukushima City with Iizaka Onsen Station, spanning 12 stations. It has been nicknamed the "Iizaka Train" or "Iiden." The Iiden logo also features the English characters "GOOD TRAIN," a play on the "ii" (good) character. It serves as a means of transportation for commuting to work and school within Fukushima City, as well as a route to Iizaka Onsen, as its name suggests...

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From the next chapter onward, I will focus on areas where achievements are particularly noteworthy, based on my own judgment and biases

A song from Fukushima Prefecture and the Tohoku region

Many of Yuji Koseki's works are related to Fukushima Prefecture, starting with his debut record, "Fukushima March" and "Fukushima Nocturne." Examples of such works include the following:

• "Fukushima Prefecture Sports Song"
• "Fukushima Kouta"
• "Fukushima Ondo"
• "Koriyama City Song"
• "Nihonmatsu Boys' Brigade"
• "Song of Abukuma"
• "The Highland Train Goes On" (A song about the Numajiri Railway, which existed in Fukushima Prefecture)
• Fukushima Commercial High School School Song "Young Heart"

The list above includes the school song of Fukushima Commercial High School, Koseki's alma mater, but Kosekicomposed 101 school songs and fight songs for schools in Fukushima Prefecture. However, his achievements in composing school songs were not limited to Fukushima Prefecture; he composed school songs for schools all over Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

If we expand the scope to include the Tohoku region outside of Fukushima Prefecture, even more songs will appear

• "Aomori Citizen Song"
• "Miss Sendai" (commonly known as "Sendai Kouta")
• "Kamaishi City Anthem"
• "Shiogama City Anthem"
• "Yamagata Prefecture Sports Anthem"
• Aomori Yamada Gakuen School Song: "With Spirit and Passion"
• Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Company Song

These would be examples of such cases

Songs about sports

I've already introduced the theme song for the National High School Baseball Tournament, "Eikan wa Kimi ni Kagayaku" (The Crown Shines on You), and the "Olympic March," but I doubt there are many people who haven't heard the " Sports Show March ," which plays at the beginning of NHK's sports broadcasts, including high school baseball . (Although, there may be some children and young people today who don't watch television at all, or who don't even own a television at home...)

Also,"Rokko Oroshi," or "The Hanshin Tigers' Song,"is probably known by any professional baseball fan, regardless of whether they are a Hanshin fan or not.

However, Koseki himself was not good at sports and wasn't particularly interested in professional baseball. Perhaps for that reason, he composed songs for several teams, including the Yomiuri Giants' team anthems "The King of Baseball" and "With Fighting Spirit" (which are used as departure melodies at JR Suidobashi Station in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo), the Chunichi Dragons' "Chunichi Dragons Song," and the Toei Flyers (now the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters)' "Toei Flyers Song."

He also actively composed music related to university baseball and the Intercity Baseball Tournament. His contributions to the promotion of baseball through music were recognized, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (Special Recognition Category) in 2023

Songs about vehicles

The song "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" ( The Highland Train Goes On ), which I've already introduced , is considered one of Koseki's signature songs, even being chosen as the departure melody for Fukushima Station. The lyricist is Oka Toshio (later known as Oka Toshio). Oka is also from Fukushima Prefecture, born in Ono-shinmachi, Tamura District, which is now Ono Town.

As a child, Oka often visited the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture for hot spring treatments and used the Numajiri Railway. It is said that he wrote the lyrics for "The Highland Train Goes On" while thinking of the Numajiri Railway

For more information about the Numajiri Railway (later the Bandai Express Railway), which ran through Inawashiro Town, Yama District, Fukushima Prefecture, please see our explanatory article

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Neither an express train nor an electric railway!? Bandai Express Electric Railway [Fukushima Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/52200

There was a railway company and railway line called Bandai Kyuko Dentetsu (Bandai Express Railway). While the name might be reminiscent of a certain company involved in the toy business, it's not a fictional railway appearing in toys. It was a real railway that existed until 1969 in Inawashiro-machi, Yama-gun, Fukushima Prefecture. And a key characteristic is that, despite its name, it wasn't an "express" or "electric railway." It opened as a line to transport sulfur ore. In the central part of Inawashiro-machi, Fukushima Prefecture, there was once a mine where sulfur ore was extracted. The Numajiri Mine was where the Adatara...

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Koseki, in collaboration with Oka, also left behind other songs about vehicles

• 「The longed-for postal coach」
• 「A longed-for voyage」
• "The port where the sound of ship whistles fades away"
• 「By mountain railway」
• 「Green carriage」
• "A satellite flying in the sky" (a vehicle?)
• "The bride will go on a donkey."

These are some of the songs.The songs highlighted in boldare also sung by Atsuo Okamoto, the same singer who sang "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" (The Highland Train Goes On).

It is said that Oka and Koseki joked to each other that the only vehicles they hadn't created were the "baby carriage" and the "hearse." Incidentally, after Koseki's death in 2008, Oka wrote the lyrics for the song " The Hearse Goes On, " and passed away the following year, 2009.

Furthermore, Kosekialso composed company songs for railway and bus companies. However, it's not that he composed a particularly large number of company songs for transportation-related companies; the industries for which Koseki composed company songs are actually quite diverse, including finance, food, petroleum, automobiles, electricity, mining, retail, film, and newspapers.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, there is no denying that Yuji Koseki composed an enormous number of songs, and that the range of genres he composed was extremely broad. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that he composed many songs about vehicles, rather thanhe composed many songs about vehicles.

Conclusion

The music composed by Yuji Koseki, a great composer born in Fukushima, is incredibly diverse and continues to be listened to and sung even today.
If you're interested, be sure to visit places associated with Yuji Koseki when you visit Fukushima.

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Who is Yuji Koseki? The musician from Fukushima City who inspired the NHK morning drama "Yell" [Fukushima Prefecture]

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Yuji Koseki, a musician with ties to Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, gained attention after being the model for the 2020 NHK morning drama "Yell." He produced over 5,000 songs during his 80-year life, many of which are famous tunes that almost everyone has heard at least once. This article will explore the life of Yuji Koseki and places in Fukushima City associated with him. What is Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture? Fukushima City, located in the northern part of Fukushima Prefecture, offers plenty to enjoy, including peaches, hot springs, and stunning scenery. It is the prefectural capital and a stop on the Tohoku Shinkansen line. Its most representative local product is peaches. During the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Fukushima Azuma Stadium...

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Yuto Ono

A former railway engineer and current freelance writer who has loved trains since childhood, his dream is to make train travel his career